


Sweet Bitters

by Denrhea



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Growing Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:54:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28685946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denrhea/pseuds/Denrhea
Summary: Growing up, Yuuri learns to appreciate the sweet through the bitters.
Relationships: Katsuki Hiroko & Katsuki Yuuri, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 13
Kudos: 70





	Sweet Bitters

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm trying to work through some writer's block...or something like that. So short stories it is!
> 
> Also not beta'd. Posting right after it's written.

* * *

Yuuri, pudgy, all of seven years old watched his mother as she cooked. She had him do small things. At the moment, he was going through the green beans. He knew his mother went back through it but if he did a good job, he might just get a treat. His sister watched him with amused eyes, all-knowing at thirteen. This time was important to his mother. “We live in our business but that does not mean you come second. We do this together. Because we’re a family.”

“What if...I want to dance like Minako?”

She smiled, her hands chopping the vegetables steadily as she went. “For now, you will take time to help, take time to do schoolwork, and you may also have time to dance.”

“But...but...what if I don’t want to do this when I’m all grown up?”

“You may not...but this will always be a safe place for you. Sometimes the world can be too much.”

Yuuri considered this. “Like...when I hide?”

She hummed a yes. “It is good to have a place to go when the world falls apart around you. A safe place. This will always be your safe place.”

She reached for his basket and he frowned, reluctantly handing it over. Perhaps he hadn’t been paying as close attention towards the end. He watched her inspect the results. She then reached for the treat jar. Yuuri sat up eagerly. She carefully unwrapped a foil wrapped treat and broke off a square of chocolate, handing it over. She also handed over a piece to Mari who accepted the treat for what it was. Yuuri, however, knew this was his mother’s special chocolate. He hadn’t tried it before and he eagerly popped it into his mouth.

The taste immediately disappointed, and he frowned, looking up at her as if she had betrayed his trust. “Wh-why? It tastes so...so…” He lacked the word for it but his mother filled it in for him.

“Bitter...bittersweet, to be exact. This chocolate is like life. There will be some sweet in it but there will be a number of bitter periods, moments where you will learn valuable lessons and moments where you learn how to deal with hard emotions. However, you can’t appreciate the sweet without the bitter.” She then handed him a second treat.

He looked at it warily and could see the amusement in her eyes. Slowly, he took a nibble, not so easy to pop it into his mouth. Perhaps caution was that first lesson. This one was the sweeter chocolate he was expecting. He looked up at her in surprise as he realized he liked the flavor better for knowing the bitter.

“It might surprise you to know that cocoa itself is a bitter. It’s the sugar that makes it into the treat that we love.”

“I like it better this way,” Yuuri stated and glared at his sister who snorted from her stool. 

“Of course you do...but isn’t it better now that you know the other side?”

Yuuri knew there was a bigger lesson here. That was the way his mother operated, imparting wisdom while they worked. “So...I can dance but I also have to help.”

She smiled softly. “Which is the sweet?”

“I guess...dancing is a treat. But...I like to help because you’re my mom. So it’s not so bad.”

“And as you get older, the bittersweet chocolate won’t be so bad either,” she answered.

* * *

  
  
  


Yuuri, not so pudgy, all of twenty-three years old pulled his feet up as he sat on the toilet. Not that he was managing to keep quiet. His sister always told him his tears were what gave him away when he hid. He dreaded the call home but he was hurting so much and needed his mother.

Her voice came warm over the line. “Yuuri, we were so…”

“M-m-mom, I’m sorry…” He dug the heel of his hand into his eyes, trying not to sniff into the phone. God, he was a mess.

“Oh, Yuuri,” her voice gentle as she reached out to him over the distance. “There is no reason to be sorry.”

“I-I messed up.”

“No, son...you are just experiencing some of the bitters.”

“It’s been so long...and I-I have nothing to show for it.”

“You are the sixth best skater in the world. I would hardly say that was nothing…”

Yuuri leaned his head against the stall. He hurt so much. His pain pressed down on him, crushing him. “I wasn’t there for him...when he passed.”

He heard her sigh on the other end of the call. “I know, dear...and I understand your pain.”

“H-how?”

“Because I’m not there to hold you as you fall apart a world away. And I definitely want to be there beside you, helping you hold it together.”

“I-I’m failing…”

“We all do...every day, some more than others. I wish…” She huffed in frustration. “I would love it if you would just come home.”

“I haven’t...I still need to…”

"Yuuri, there is no goal post you have to reach to come home. This is and will always be your safe place. You don’t have to earn the right to be here.”

“I just want you to be proud of me.”

“Oh, son...I am. Always. We all are. Why do you think we celebrate you so much?”

“I-I don’t know...I don’t deserve…”

“Hush now, dear. Those thoughts are hurting you for no reason.” She swallowed, not wanting him to hear her tears. His own were burden enough.

* * *

  
  
  


“I just wanted them to love my skating,” Yuuri murmured, leaning into Victor’s side.

He pressed his cheek into Yuuri’s hair. “You are beyond beautiful when you skate. It’s what drew me to your side.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes. “I thought it was the pole dancing.”

“I will admit, the almost naked Yuuri did catch my attention.” He slipped his arms around the other man’s waist. World Gold was just within reach and Victor had a feeling it was going to happen. “I will also admit that this Yuuri, the beautiful skater, the one that will yell at me one minute and fall apart the next, the one that finally let me love him...this is the one I prefer. Things are so much better when you work for them.”

“I’m usually falling apart WHILE yelling at you.” He huffed a laugh remembering something his mother told him. “The sweet after the bitter.”

Victor smiled, “Indeed.” Yuuri’s final score went up and he heard Yuuri gasp in disbelief. “That’s you, my sweet Yuuri…”

And this hard fought win was the sweetest victory. Yuuri turned teary eyes towards his fiance. “I’m so glad you’re here to share this with me.”

“Me, too...I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> The other was so heavy that I wanted to follow up with a less difficult topic. Growing pains.


End file.
